


He Didn't Want To Go Out On Such A Night But

by fromthedepthsofinsanity



Series: First Line - Homestuck Edition [5]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Archiveofourown Exclusive, Elements of Dying Light, First Line Series, Humanstuck, Loss of hope, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Slow Burn, Struggle for Survival, Thoughts of Suicide, Zombie Hierarchies, Zombie Types, Zombies, pairings to be determined
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 14:32:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6379969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromthedepthsofinsanity/pseuds/fromthedepthsofinsanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jade and Jake are caught outside their safe house after hours and struggle to get home.</p><p>Edit: Things aren't easy when the Outbreak just keeps taking and taking. How many obstacles can be overcome before everyone gives up?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Mad Dash Home! Jake and Jade Caught Outside!

**Author's Note:**

> So I broke my own rules, but it was bound to happen. I went on the hunt for Dirk's handwriting in a font that I could download for the soul purpose of using it at the end of this fic. Unfortunately, my first attempt at creating a picture with it wasn't the best, but thankfully I have really good, really creative, and insanely art-savvy friends to help me! But that is the only rule I broke while penning this; I swear!!
> 
> A special thanks to [MoonlightIllusionist](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightIllusionist) for artwork at the end!! You are literally the best!!!

He didn't want to go out on such a night, but he had no choice. It was either move right this moment or die under the shredding teeth and digging nails of the Spooks shuffling about just outside the rotted door. It was only luck alone that saved him and Jade from being noticed immediately, but Lady Luck hadn’t been so favorable past that. To him, or to anyone. It was only a matter of time before one caught whiff of the blood still trickling down from Jade’s forehead or the salty, nervous sweat slowly filling the air from Jake’s pits, brow, and palms. 

“Jake-” Jade hissed, pulling at the back of his shirt.

“Jade, not now,” Jake whispered back. 

The grime on the window afforded him no clear count of how many waited for him outside. The shrieks that made the glass tremble in fear were all the confirmation he needed to know, however, that the Torments were out in droves. He desperately wanted to avoid them. He knew it impossible if they snuck out the window and stalked the shadows for a new place to hide. It’s where the Torments hunted, and heaven forbid one of the shuffling Spooks caught wind of a still-living before they did. One cut, one grab, one scream in surprised terror later, and the alarm would ring. The hive of Spooks would buzz and stumble forward, and like sharks to blood, the Torments would swarm from the unimaginable depths, hoping to snatch away an easy meal. 

They were never denied that easy feast. 

“How many bullets do you still have?” He shakingly inquired. He couldn’t look at her. 

She hesitated, “Three. Not enough,” Jake sighed in defeat and shut his eyes, “How many do you have?” 

“One,” And he was saving it, should things go sideways. 

“Two for them, two for us, huh?” 

“No. Two for us, and two for whoever stumbles upon us later.” 

“Generous,” Jade murmured. 

Jake was silent as he took in their options again. Already, the shuffling outside seemed to intensify and scrape against his brain like jagged claws. Once or twice, he caught himself jumping at the imagined thump of a heavy, uncoordinated body throwing itself at the door. Finally, he took Jade’s hands in his and squeezed them. 

“Jade, we only have a few options here. We can stay here and hope for the best. We can try to sneak our way out through the lobby,” He stopped and tried to swallow his bobbing Adam’s apple, “Or we can take our chances with the window.” 

“Don’t leave this up to me!” 

Jake shushed her before her voice could rise enough to alert all. He held his breath, but none of the Spooks seemed the wiser. Shaking, he scooted closer to her and rested his forehead against hers. 

“I’m not leaving this up to you,” He stuttered, “But I can’t be the only one to make tough choices all the time, Jade. I can’t. I need to know what you think.” 

Jade shook her head, “I don’t know.” 

“I don’t either,” Jake admitted. 

Nervously, Jade pulled her hands from his and drummed her fingers over her lips. Her lime-colored eyes darted downward and across the filthy carpet as she rapidly weighed the pros and cons of each choice. They could most certainly stay and hide. They were unnoticed and could remain so if they were careful, but their experience had shown them that more than a few had been trapped in their safe spaces, believing they could wait it out. People could starve; Spooks, as far as they knew, could not. 

They could try to sneak their way through the gaggle stumbling about in the hallway and lobby, but Jade didn’t like the idea even a little bit. It had been hard enough sneaking in without notice during the day. At night, it would be impossible. Spooks  _ changed _ at night. Their hunger and prey-drive intensified to something beyond the normal rabid fixation. Whereas in the daylight the corpses were more than happy to work individually, at night, they worked as a unit. If even one was alerted, the others would switch on and swarm. Jade had personally seen the mob in action. Spooks and Torments from a block over had rushed to join a single hunter that had been lucky enough to find a man as he poked his head out of his hiding spot. 

That only left the window. Jade and Jake had proven they were fast. More than once, they had outrun a starving Freshling, and the Torments weren’t much faster than the Freshies. They’re only skills were mobility and the heartbreaking sound of their voices. They hadn’t yet lost their still-living noises. Some could still beg if pushed into a corner. Torments, however, were much more clever. They hid in wait. They smelled the still-living in the air on well-traveled routes. They used the mindless pacts that hadn’t yet evolved into what they were to their advantage. And they terrified Jade to her very core. That’s what waited outside the four walls in which they had trapped themselves. 

The only advantage they had in the dark outside was more space. If Jade and Jake were ambushed now, there was nowhere to maneuver. They would be taken down before they could begin. 

It made the decision easier. Jade pointed to the window, and Jake solemnly nodded. 

“Have everything?” Jade wanted to laugh at the question. ‘Everything’ was a rucksack with a half-full bottle of alcohol, three rolls of gauze, two peanut butter crackers, a fullish water bottle, and a squiddle doll she couldn’t part with. Prepared adventurers, they were not, “Just keep thinking: we’ll be back with Dirk and Rose in no time.” 

“What if they-” 

“Don’t,” Jake whispered firmly, “Don’t say it. Please.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Jake kissed her forehead, took her hand in a tight grip, and undid the latch on the window. Fate was only so kind as to make the window silent as he slid it open, but yet again, she proved her fickleness and twisted humor by scattering Freshlings, Spooks, and Torments about like mines on a battlefield. Jake watched as a Freshling struggled through a hole in the chain link fence across the street, tear open its own flesh with no regard for its health on the rusted metal, stagger out onto the pavement, toss its gaze about, and scream with frustration. It had been a woman by the sound of it. He had no other indicator of gender as its clothes hung off it like a sack and it had taken to tearing the last bits of its hair out of its skull. 

Jake pulled himself back into the room and pressed himself against the wall as a Torment, bulky but lithe, hairless and rotting, bounded out from the shadows and pounced upon the Freshling, knocking it down with all the force of a wrecking ball and taking off down the street with it. It shrieked the entire way, and more followed the horrific sound. Freshlings were more alive than dead after all. It was a miracle any of them ever made it to be mindless, staggering Spooks. 

The sound also sparked an interest in the Spooks outside their door. As predicted, they began to press insistently on the entrance to get at the sound. The more the door blocked the way, the angrier the mob got. Their groans would soon be turning into shrieks of their very own, and Jade and Jake would be surrounded in moments. 

Hesitation would afford them no rewards. Within the moment, the siblings hopped the windowsill and dangled from the ledge. Jake checked the ground, thankfully only a meager story away, before letting go. The grass thumped sleepily under his weight, but no other sound followed. Looking up, he nodded to Jade and waved for her to follow. 

He waited for her to fall wrong, to hear the snap of her ankle as she put too much weight on the side of her foot; it would be just their luck, but Jade was no amateur in roughing it. How many trees did she jump from as a child? How many sets of stairs did she dare to leap? How many swingsets did she defy in her pursuit of flight? It was only a small victory in a very long journey, but he would take it. 

Taking her hand again, he lead them along in a crouch. He didn’t dare flick on the flashlight he had at his waist, no matter how much his brain screamed at him to do so. Darkness was as much his friend as it was his enemy, and thus far, the shadows seemed to be quite clear of the dead roamers. He supposed he had that Freshling and Torment to thank. Hive mentality had its perks. They were probably halfway across town, one being ripped to shreds, the other feasting and fighting with its kin. 

They rushed across the open pavement like a pair of scared squirrels and ducked into a dense thicket of prickly bushes. Jake bit his lip and stared longingly at the path running between the buildings, the path he knew would take them directly to their safehouse. 

“We can’t go that way,” Jade’s voice was more air than words on his ear and made him jump, “They’d’ve smelled us.”  

“I know,” He admitted, “Which way you think?” 

Jade pointed to the hole the Freshling had made, and Jake’s stomach turned. He shook his head, but Jade nodded vigorously back. 

“Think about it!” She urged, “It might have been a Freshling, but it’s still one of them. If we go that way, they might only smell it and not us!” 

“We don’t smell much different. They tore it to pieces by now.” 

“What choice do we have? They’re all over the place regardless. The fresh are going to stay away from paths where the others are, and I know we can outrun those at least.” 

“And fall right into a Torment Pit, no doubt.” 

“I’d rather on accident than on purpose, Jake.” 

It was true. It was idiotic, suicidal even, to even consider running down their familiar trail where the Torments waited ever patient. Licking his dry lips, he nodded. 

Jade took the lead. Poking her head out, she squinted around briefly before jerking Jake out of the bushes and darting toward the fence. The impish metal grabbed and snagged them as they slipped through, trying to tickle but only succeeding in annoying them. Once freed, they were officially in uncharted territory. Jake, Jade, Dirk, and Rose hadn’t dared traverse the endless expanses of concrete and backyards that rolled on forever behind the buildings, despite being so very close to their normal routes. They had heard too many Freshling shrieks, too many groaning Spooks, and far too many skittering Torments waiting in the darkest places for slip-ups. They knew a community had to be somewhere close, maybe closer than they imagined, because Freshlings were continually rushing around like hornets from a kicked nest. But again, they hadn’t dared go looking. The living were just as dangerous as the dead, if not more so. Their small group was doing just fine on their own, and they would be bigger and stronger once they found the rest of their friends and family. 

Jake willed himself not to deflate at the thought of those they were still without. Roxy and Dave were no doubt fine. Those two couldn’t be killed by even the most crafty. They were smart, and what’s more, they had mouths to match. It was hard to kill someone who made you laugh, or otherwise stalled you with a well-placed ironic quip. 

John, well, he was just a lucky bastard. He’d probably fall into their laps before he even realized he was without in the first place. Jake’s money was on him already having found Dave and they were bro-ing it up in an apartment, ganking the last bits of electricity off some unfortunate soul, and ruining their friendship with competitive N64 video games.  

And Jane… Jake’s heart clenched at the thought. He wasn’t sure what happened to her, but he hoped with everything he had that she was alright. They had been separated only a few weeks back. She had turned away, her big heart calling her to try to save one that was beyond help, and they had been cut off. A few hours could be deadly, but a few weeks? She could be much worse. These runs they had been making were for more than just finding supplies; they were on the look-out for her and the others as well, and he and Jade would have to come home empty-handed… again. 

Assuming they made it back at all. 

They crouched and nearly crawled over the jagged concrete and strained their ears. Each footfall was the beat of a gong, every breath was a howling wind, and every drop of sweat that fell from their skin was a torrent from a hurricane. Still, they held on to one another and looked where the other couldn’t. 

They made it through two lots with nary a misstep. There were no Munchers to be had anywhere. Jake supposed it had much to do with that earlier Freshling. Maybe they hadn’t returned because they had found fresher meat? He shuddered at the thought. What if it was someone-? 

No, he couldn’t think of that. They had all agreed that even if no one came home before dark, they wouldn’t look until morning when it was safest. There was no point in risking more lives for someone that could be lost before they even got there to help. But if it was Jane, or Dave, or Rose, or John-

No,  _ no _ . Jake didn’t believe they would be so rash. Only Dirk broke the rules time and time again. 

“Hear that?” 

Jake stopped everything but his heartbeat to listen, and indeed, he  _ did _ hear that. It sounded like the crackling of a fire mixed with a rabid animal’s growl. It was fleshy and a little wet, but it popped and snapped like something too dry and overdone. It equalled nothing other than a Torment roaming. It was so close that when it sniffed, Jake could hear the air swirling around in its leathery, overly large lungs. 

Stuck as they were between two privacy fences, they could only see down either end of the narrow alleyway and no further. Jake could only guess where it was and hope it didn’t see them before they saw it. There were no feather-light footfalls for them to hear, no scuffling or frustrated shrieks. After a few moments of near-harmless sniffing, Jake and Jade were beginning to think that they were in fact having the same hallucination. 

They both drew a breath and made to release it along with the rest of their anxiety when, from above, a Torment landed with a crashing thud near the junction of alley and building. Its back was to them for the moment, but its interest was piqued. Standing to its full, frightening height, it took in more jarring sniffs, sucking all the useable air out of the area. Jake nearly choked from lack of oxygen at the sight. It was only Jade’s hasty pushing that drove them both behind a pile of trash to hide before the Torment had a chance to turn. 

They weren’t well-hidden, but they dare not shift to cover themselves with the stinking rot. It was the best they could hope for that the Torment would pick up another scent and be on its way, but Jake didn’t count that Fate would be so kind to them a third time. 

Its toenails clicked against the stone beneath its feet as it started down the alley toward them. Jake’s hand tightened to a crushing grip on Jade’s. Her fingers nearly slipped from his. The sweat and grime coating his palms acted as both a lubricant and an opposing force, but still, he clung. She was the only anchor he had, even though she was just as adrift. 

Jake forced back a whimper as the Torment moved ever closer. The smell of decay, blood, and mold overpowered the garbage they hid in and destroyed every sense he still had. The darkness consumed the edges of his vision and warned him urgently that his panic would make him fall. 

Skeletal talons curled around the edge of the cracked and peeling bin, moving slowly, but with great hope. To Jake, the digits might as well have snapped and crushed the weary plastic under its mighty grasp. He jumped, a scream on his lips, but terror stalled even his breathing. 

This was it. In a moment’s time, the beast would peek around and look them both dead in the face. Already, he could see the point of its forked, protractile jaw, clicking and moving eagerly as their living stench became ever clearer. In a moment’s time, they would witness the Torments smirk, a skull’s grin. 

In a moment’s time, Jake and Jade would be nothing more than another meal, another dreadful statistic. 

Jake wouldn’t let that happen. It was so incredibly selfish that the first thought that ran through his head was to reach for the pistol on his thigh, bring it to his head, and pull the trigger with no warning to Jade. She was a smart girl. She would know what he was thinking the moment she saw the glint of gray in the dark. She would follow his lead and thank him for the idea. His free hand shakingly scrambled over his leg and brushed against the cool, soothing metal of the barrel. All he had to do was rip it from its holster and end it all. 

However, he was stopped. It wasn’t just Jade’s other hand clamping down on his, but a flash of light in his peripheral vision. It caught his attentions fully, as if he was some dumb pet intrigued by a laser on the carpet, and confused him with the sound that it made as it disappeared. 

Glass shattered into a spray of gray and brown glints somewhere in the depths of the alley. Each piece laughed mockingly as they bounced and danced without care against the pavement. Glass could be broken, but never really harmed by anything that walked the streets after all. It was all so very funny to see these two humans cower in fear and watch the rest hunt without success. 

The Torment jerked at the sound, staring with its specialized eyes into the darkness and liking what it thought it saw. The bin was blown back as the Torment took off after the still joyous bottle, leaving Jake and Jane with little more than a few busted open bags and shivering newspapers to hide them. 

It took Jake longer than he was willing to admit to realize just what had transpired, but he was grateful for Jade’s quick thinking.

“We don’t have any alcohol left,” Jade huffed, voice shaking.

“I’m okay with that.” 

“We should go.” 

Jake could only nod and force himself to stand on his quaking legs, a quake that was made even worse when the Torment roared in the blackness at finding its prey not where it had heard them. It was all the kick they needed to hop the nearest fence and rush far, far away from the Torment’s haunt. 

 

Jake almost thought them lost as he hurdled another fence and landed softly on the road below. It was quiet where they had found themselves, but it didn’t ease his anxiety. He hadn’t anyway to tell without his light, but he had the distinct feeling they were in a schoolyard. Dirk had spoken of it, but Jake and Jade had never been this way before. He knew though, that if they were in Dirk’s and Dave’s old school, they had gotten turned around somewhere between Point A and B. 

“Look!” Jade said, pointing up to a building in the distance. 

Against the dreary sky, a light flashed in bright orange: DS. Dirk had insisted on putting up some kind of beacon; whether to signal anyone who could help or just help people find their way back, he hadn’t explained, but Jake sure as hell was grateful for it now. His only issue was that he had been correct in thinking they had gotten turned around. 

“I’ve never seen the apartments from this side before.”

“We made a big loop,” Jade confirmed, “It’s good though. It’s less crowded on this side.” 

“Less crowded,” Jake muttered, shaking his head. “Good to know we’re avoiding traffic now.” 

“Don’t get smart. You’re starting to sound like Rose.” 

“The girl will rub off on you.” 

A giggle was his reply, and it melted away the icy bits of his nervousness. It was nice that they could still laugh even when they were being hunted. 

Their footsteps seemed a lot quieter here as they walked. Jake suspected it had much to do with their diminished nervousness. They didn’t have to crouch to move about or restrict their breathing to keep them from being heard. If they were at the school, Jade was right to say there were less Biters about, mostly because someone had taken the time to scatter the horde. 

It had been a safe zone in the beginning, but like everywhere else, one act of either compassion or ignorance had ruined a good thing. Biters by the dozens had been trapped where food and supplies were in abundance. Many went in to try their luck, and just as many failed. To this day, Jake, Dirk, Jade, and Rose hadn’t figured out just who had rushed in and, simply put, annihilated the mob that infested what may have been the last bunker the city had. Whoever it was had been just as ruthless with the spoils as he or she had been with the Biters; there was nothing left. Dirk and Rose had testified to it. 

Jake was sorely tempted to ask Jade to hunker down here with him until the sun rose, but who knew exactly what or who had moved into the quiet, very vacant zone. 

“We’re so close,” Jade stated, gazing longingly up to the apartment building, “I just wish we had something to bring back.” 

“Me too.” 

“We’ll find them next time. I just know it. Then we can leave.” 

Jake bit his lip to keep himself from replying. The city was not the best place to be, but where else could they go? No doubt everywhere had stories of magical, infestation-free communities in every direction, just out of reach and forever growing more and more fortified as the moments passed. Dirk and Rose had made no claims of knowing where these All-Is-Well quarantine zones were, but most of their group agreed that any place was better than where they were currently. Supplies didn’t suddenly reappear, and the city was running out fast. 

“Hey, Jade-”

The sickening scream of metal as it was crushed under a heavy weight rang through the yard like a siren. Jade and Jake didn't have to turn to know the swing set near them had been turned into a knot puzzle, but they looked all the same, if only to confirm their fears. 

A Torment sat perched on the gray tangle and stared at them victoriously. Jake had no clear way to tell, but he just knew the Biter that stared at them now was the very same they had escaped from hours earlier. It had tracked them all the way here. Its jaw clicked against itself; every muscle left on its bones vibrated with excitement; and its smile, a diseased and rotted smirk of promise, pulled at the sinew still left on its face and ripped the decayed flesh into a Chelsea Grin. 

Neither moved. There was no trash to conceal them now and no clever distraction to enrage their predator. All they could do was turn and run. 

Jake imagined the Torment’s smirk deepening at the wonderful chase it had been given. Things must have been so much more fun when food put up a fight. An existence of picking off weaker Biters must have been terribly dull and colorless. Living people, though, they were a thrill. 

They didn’t dare look back as they scrambled over concrete, felled fences, and various arrays of wreckage. They were fortunate only in discovering a great many tight drainage pipes and squeezing alleys to throw their bulky pursuer, but that was their only advantage. The more the Torment roared and frustrated itself with slippery prey, the more interest was sparked among its lessers, and it nearly made Jake’s heart burst from fear. A Torment may be too large to follow them into mouse holes and rat routes, but Freshlings and activated Spooks would have no trouble at all. 

It was only a matter of time before those shrieks in the distance from the Freshlings were close enough to deafen and vicious maws were savaging open their throats and stomachs. 

Sweat poured off Jake’s body as he ran. He hadn’t the faintest idea where he was going, but it didn’t matter. He had to keep moving. There was no opportunity to stop and orient himself. He just had to keep following Jade and all would, hopefully, be well. Though, he was having some serious doubts as to just how fine they would be. The Torment was bounding ever closer as it found inventive ways to overcome the obstacles they forced it through, and the other Biters were becoming more interested and had joined it in running after them. 

They rounded another corner, sprinted over the wide, clear expanse of road, and dashed to the side street that led to their favorite route home. Behind them, there was another screech of metal being horribly bent out of place and a shower of glass ringing out. Out of the corner of his eye, Jake caught the blackened, dripping form of the Torment streaking across the wall nearest to him. 

“Jake!!” Jade screamed from somewhere in the darkness in front of him, “This way!!” 

He slowed just a fraction. His muscles locked at the thought of being separated, and panic set in. 

It was all the Torment needed, that one tiny slip-up. It pounced. Its powerful hands hit Jake’s shoulders with enough force to pop his arm from its socket before his face even hit the ground, leaving the limb temporarily useless. He tried to scramble away; he clawed helplessly at the the pavement and found no finger holds. Most of all, he wanted to cry out for Jade. 

But the thought of it left him the moment the Torment dug its clawed hand into his unusable arm and flipped him over to face it. Up close, the Torment’s facade was unbearable. It wasn't just the vomit-inducing stench rolling off it in globs or even the snapping and bubbling rot quite literally slipping off its bones; no, it was the manic grin on its face that froze Jake entirely. No scream or struggle would be coming from him, and in that moment, staring into Death’s Face, he realized why he hasn't heard tales of people surviving a Torment’s hold. It wasn't the sheer power the Torment possessed, but the stunning fear it induced and the absolute certainty of death. It was easier to give up than fight for a few more seconds of life. 

The Torment’s body shook anxiously above him, eyes wide and full of understanding. It was so eager and so ready to taste warm, untainted flesh. The bones in its lower jaw spread with a wet squelch, deafening Jake to the rabble around them, and gave him a full view of the rows and rows of modified teeth waiting in the black, red, and gray cavern. He held his breath, shut his eyes, and tensed as the Torment finally attacked. 

He was expecting to die right then and there, head wrenched from his body and forced down the Torment’s endless gullet, but his scream and the Torment’s mingled, and he was left relatively untouched. 

Jade came down on the Torment with the force of a wrecking ball, knocked it onto its back, stomped onto its vulnerable, gaping mouth, raised her rifle, and fired point blank. The bang that followed silenced everything around them. The Spooks and Freshlings hovered as if stunned many feet away, and the other Torments, wherever they lingered, did little more than sniff the air and huff at the smell of dead blood. Jake didn’t have time to process the events. He hadn’t the faintest as to whether or not the Torment was actually dead nor did want to find out. Jade was hauling him to his feet before he realized he was being tugged and that they were being chased again. 

He was in a daze as she held his hand tight and all but pulled him along. The ringing in his ears didn’t let up; if she said anything to him, he didn’t hear it, nor could he hear the mob of activated Biters almost literally nipping at their heels or the Torments scaling the walls all around them. Jake didn’t collect himself at all until they were at the apartment building’s base, when Jade took to shoving him through the door leading to the basement and ultimately, the elevator shaft that shot straight up to the floor they needed. 

The pair of them threw their weight against the door as they slammed it shut and felt the multitude of heavy, determined bodies slamming against it. Jade backed away from it, coaxing Jake to follow, and watched as the metal door dented, but held valiantly against the onslaught. For how long it would though, neither could be sure. 

Instead of sticking around to find out, both ran the familiar trail through the supply room, through the man-made hole in the wall, and into the elevator, where they climbed through the hatch in the ceiling they forced open a long time back and up the rope ladder. If any Biters got in, they’d be sorely disappointed. 

Jade pulled herself up onto their floor, turned, and helped Jake up, “Are you alright?” 

Her words were garbled in the weight of the evening’s events. He did the only thing he could; he shook his head. With a sigh, she hugged him tight, and he could barely muster up the energy to hug back. His heart hammered in his chest, and his breathing couldn’t catch up. 

“It’s alright. Calm down,” She murmured comfortingly to him, “We’re home now.” 

“Home,” Jake shook his head, released her, and covered his face. They didn’t have anywhere to really call home. 

“Let’s go regroup with Dirk and Rose. See if they found anything.” 

“Dirk,” Jake mouthed. Why hadn’t he been at the end of the hall waiting for them? Dirk and Rose knew every movement through the apartment, every single come and go. They met them every time they returned. 

Jake and Jade shared identical thoughts and immediately rushed down the hall to Dirk’s apartment. Throwing open the door, they were greeted by no one. Still panting, Jake looked around the empty living room and felt his stomach drop. 

“Dirk?” 

He began searching rooms, each more empty than the last.

“Dirk! Rose!” 

He heard Jade echo his calls and search rooms he had skipped. Everywhere was vacant until he got to Dirk’s bedroom. It was cluttered as always and now in desperate need of love and care (as was everything else in the city), but amongst the smuppets and machine parts, filthy carpet and peeling wallpaper, one pile drew his eyes. A table had been pushed against the wall and carefully filled with canned goods and water. The stash would help them survive for days without leaving if he and Jade were careful. Written on the wall in tangerine-orange, just above the horde, was Dirk’s marker-bold handwriting: 


	2. Jane's Been Found! Follow the Stranger: Karkat Vantas!

“She's up there.”

The moment Karkat said those words, Dirk felt his stomach lurch. Of course ‘up there’ meant a three story building positively brimming with Spooks. They meandered drunkenly through the open shop windows and doors on the street-level floor, trying to find their way up to the second and third level where, no doubt, Jane’s (hopefully) still-living scent was drawing them in. It was that or Jane had turned and had been making such a racket that she drew everything in from miles around. Karkat hadn't been clear just how Jane had been wounded, just that she had been. 

Dirk really, really hoped it wasn't the second option. 

“How did you get through them all?” Rose’s concern glided cleanly over Dirk’s dark thoughts. 

“Does that really matter right now?” Karkat hissed, then huffed in exasperation, “There weren’t that many when I left her.” 

“When I left her,” Dirk repeated with the tiniest bit of malice lacing his words. 

“Look, I fucking told you that I didn’t have a choice!!” 

Both hushed him with cupped palms to his mouth and rigid fingers to their own. Violet and tangerine peeked out of the relative darkness the van they hid behind provided. A few Biters had perked up at the sound, sniffing at the air with an almost frenzied earnest, but none began to make their way toward them for the moment. It was probably their one and only bit of luck they were going to get, wasted on something as trivial as anger. 

Both should have foreseen this exact scenario the moment Karkat had explained all to them back at the apartment, when he had shown his own special brand of obnoxiousness in the form of wailing like a banshee and cursing with enough fervor and abandon that would make even the saltiest sailor rethink his word bank. Dirk was still a little blown away as to how Karkat had gotten them to believe him. He supposed the words ‘Jane,’ ‘hurt,’ ‘needs help,’ and ‘told me how and where to find you’ was enough. Jane was one of the select few that knew exactly how to get into his apartment, so the rational part of his brain instantly knew truth when it heard it. 

The irrational part of his brain, however, wanted to throttle him for more than just being a loud, moody, obnoxious, ill-timed, injured-girl-leaving jackass. 

“How are we doing this?” Dirk finally said, speaking all their thoughts at once. 

Karkat’s red-rimmed, sleep-deprived eyes darted between the pair of them. He was an expert at getting out, not getting in, and he had never had to face this many Spooks before. Well, to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t until very recently that he had to take down any at all; before, it was strictly because he wanted to. 

Thankfully, Dirk seemed to be talking more to Rose than to him. Both were in deep thought, silently pinging idea after idea off one another, before Rose peeked out of the darkness again. 

“It’s not the most solid of plans, but I do believe I have one,” She pointed just down the street to a lone car near the intersection, “I’m sure that one has an alarm. Someone just needs to activate it and draw those biters there.” 

“Dumbass! Then they’ll all come streaming out!” 

“I did admit it wasn’t perfect. If you’d rather, we could go in, ready to fight, no doubt get overwhelmed, and go down in an shining blaze of glory.” 

“That’s no better!” 

“It was also very blatant sarcasm.” 

Dirk held up his hand before the volume between them was raised again, “I don’t like the idea. Either of them.” 

“Any suggestions?” 

“We’ll trip the alarm after, not before,” Dirk started, “We’ll get in through there.” 

All three peeked up to get a better view of the building and its neighbors. To the shop’s right, another building stood. It was shorter by two stories and had been so picked through that only its moldy husk remained. Every window was blown out, every wall had a hole, and best of all, it was being completely ignored by the biters. 

“We’ll push this van over, climb on top, and up onto that roof. It won’t be hard to get in through a window once we’re up there,” Dirk continued, “Assuming, of course, that they aren’t blocked.” 

“And if they are?” 

Dirk cocked his head slightly and sucked his teeth, “We might have to make some noise then. Hopefully, it won’t come to that. We’ll just run in, get Jane, and go out the way we came in. Someone... Well, I’ll run down down and trip that car alarm when we’re all out, and we’ll haul ass home.” 

“That sounds like a lot of fucking if’s,” Karkat chirped.

“We’re listening for your idea then,” Rose defended. 

Karkat had nothing. 

“Great,” Dirk said, standing, “Gotta be quick, all right?” 

Both nodded, but only one looked confident. Dirk popped the van’s driver-side door open with a dull clack, reached in awkwardly, flipped up the lock on the sliding door, and forced it open. All three found a firm place to press their hands and began their slow trek. 

Glass and gravel crunched under the van’s tires, but otherwise it made no sound. The trio didn’t dare grunt or huff. Too many Spooks were close, and already, they were running a great risk by getting closer. Dirk steered and kept watch as he pushed, noting the amount of interest the Biters were giving. Thus far, they were too enraptured by what was on the third floor of the shop than a van casually and mystically rolling across the street by itself. 

“Stop!” Dirk ordered almost too loudly. 

It was nearly too late, but his quick command saved them from smashing the front end straight into a brick wall. All they managed was a muffled thud from the bumper connecting. 

“On three,” He mouthed, pointing to the van’s roof. 

Three fingers. 

Two fingers. 

One finger. 

They used the van’s seats as steps and clambered on top. It was unavoidable, the noise of groaning metal and the pop of the roof giving slightly under their weight. A handful of Biters turned at the noise and liked what they saw. It mattered little. Dirk ran at the wall, scaling it just enough feet to grab the ledge of the roof, and hauled himself up and over. He turned, hands out to grab at the next, Rose, and help her up when she jumped. 

More gathered as their kin saw living, breathing food quickly escaping them, and soon, the van’s perimeter was crowded with moaning, grasping, and shuffling undead. Karkat froze as he looked down at the throng. He was out of their reach for certain. Collectively, they couldn’t muster up the brainpower to even think about using their eager fingers for anything other than grabbing, let alone climbing after them. 

Still, seeing them all reaching, gnashing their rotted teeth, and snarling with all the energy they had scared the living shit out of him. 

“Come on!” He heard someone hiss just before two sets of arms grabbed at his hair and shoulders. 

Karkat struggled valiantly against them, imagining all sorts of terrible flesh ripping that was to come. As he was lifted and pulled onto the roof, the only thought that ran through his head was ‘I don’t want to die like this.’ 

He was shaken roughly, “Get a hold of yourself!” A woman’s voice, and then, a sharp slap to the cheek, “You’re all right!” 

“I think that window is open,” Came an unconcerned reply, “Stay here with him until he picks himself up.” 

“Dirk,” A sigh, “Just wait a moment.” 

As if all the lights were suddenly flicked on, Karkat began to take in his surroundings. There were no Spooks hovering over him, ready to tear him apart, but the two he had traveled here with. The sounds from below seemed so far away and were fading with each passing second. Rose was right. He was fine. Fine, but not completely. He suddenly wished he had more than a flimsy sickle between him and a horrible death. 

He shook as he sat up, and a hot sort of trickle ran down his back from the top of his head, the residual feeling of fear. 

“He needs to be left here if he’s going to fall apart every time we get too close,” They had continued their conversation. Karkat hadn’t even heard. 

“No,” He interjected, albeit weakly, “No, don’t leave me. I’ll be okay. I swear it won’t happen again.” 

To prove himself, he stood. Dirk accepted it without question and resumed his place at the edge of the roof, looking up to the cracked window; Rose, however, did not. She eyeballed him with enough scrutiny to make an uptight nun proud. 

“Let’s take a moment,” Dirk gave her only a single glance over his shoulder. She had his attention at least, “What are we going to do if she’s turned?” 

Outwardly, Dirk didn’t change. His stoic mask was firmly planted over his face and his body was as relaxed as if he were at a spa. Inwardly, he rejected the question, or at the very least tried, but it swirled around and around with the others until a clear picture of sweet Jane rotting and flying at them in a starvation-induced fury. He took in a deep breath and released it slowly. 

“The same we would always do when they got too close.” 

He leapt before Rose could argue, grabbed the window’s ledge, and forced it open. It protested obnoxiously, much like a child not wanting to be woken up for school, but opened all the same for him. He peeked in, unwilling to roll into an unsurveyed area, and saw nothing. Dirk gave them a slight nod in direction before pulling himself onto the sill and turning to hold out his hands. 

“You first,” He looked to Karkat. 

Karkat supposed he deserved the jab and didn’t argue, but he did scowl viciously. He didn’t dare look down as he took the leap and grabbed Dirk’s hands. He could only imagine the throng below just from the sheer amount of noise they were making on street level. At least, the Freshlings hadn’t been alerted. He’d seen them up close and personal, an experience he never wanted to have again. A herd was bad enough without having them all activate and work as a unit. 

He was pulled up, pushed inside, and neglected as Dirk grabbed Rose next and pulled her inside. Carefully, Dirk closed the window just enough to allow nothing larger than a mouse in or out, and since leaving the apartment, all three felt at ease, if only for a moment. 

Karkat took in the hallway around him. The same faded pictures hung askew on the walls as they did the first time he stumbled in with Jane, the filthy carpet still was ripped and a little bloody, and the house still reeked of mold and rotting wood. Cleaned up, Karkat thought that maybe it would look a lot like his old home, right down to those obnoxious family pictures his father insisted on having everywhere. 

“Upstairs, right?” Rose asked, breaking through Karkat’s musings. 

He nodded and took the lead, heading around the corner and through the kitchen, but immediately stopped dead in his tracks at the hunched figure blocking the way to the stairs. It stood as if its arms were too heavy for its shoulders and wheezed something terrible. Traces of voice and sob mingled in with its guttural noises, and Karkat instantly knew a Freshling had made its way in, probably in search of a place to change into a shuffling idiot like those downstairs. 

It wasn’t uncommon for Freshlings to find a place to die. They often chose their living homes or other familiar places, and woe betide anyone who got too close if the ways they seemed to remember in were locked or barricaded off. It was their job to close themselves in and perish, not anyone else’s. Karkat imagined this to be the father in those photos, freshly back from running amok in the streets and tearing open any living thing in his path and more than ready to come back home and sleep. For the moment, he hadn’t noticed the intruders in his home. 

Karkat’d like to keep it that way. Where there was one Freshling holed up, there were usually others. Karkat backed away, holding his breath, and bumped into Rose’s solid form. He twirled his finger in the air, trying to convey to them to turn around and walk back, but neither paid him any mind. Both were too focused on the shaking and grunting being in front of them, blocking their way and making their life all the more difficult. 

With no warning, Rose reached for her hip, withdrew a long, narrow knife, and quietly crept up on the Freshling. Karkat felt the yell in his throat, but the hand on his mouth stopped even his loudest of protests. Dirk was content to watch Rose work. 

As quick as a shot, Rose’s knife slid into the giving flesh of the Freshling’s neck, settling at the base of its brain. It couldn’t even manage a strangled choke as she viciously ripped her dagger out and let it fall to a rotting heap at her feet. She didn’t acknowledge her companions until she peeked around the corners and tried her hand at looking up the stairs. A short wave to move forward, followed by a finger to her lips, was all the communication they would get. There were more. She could hear them. 

Dirk released Karkat slowly, and even through his dark shades, Karkat saw the look of both warning and concern flicker there. He drew a deep breath, held it until he felt his lungs burn, and let it go with a nod. He could do this. They just had to be quiet. A feat to be certain, but Karkat could do it for Jane’s sake. 

The next waited for them just at the top of the stairs, already dead from Rose’s blade. Why she hadn’t gone on to clear out the rest was made clear as Dirk and Karkat joined her. Six doors lined the hallway, each closed, and all bore the markings of a Freshling trying its hand at getting in. Only one, however, was crowded around. The far-end door was being shoved and beat upon by three Freshlings. They yelled and banged, screamed and raged. It was a wonder they hadn’t heard them more clearly downstairs. The Spooks occupying the shop sure had. 

Dirk looked to Karkat, who nodded solemnly. At least, he was correct in saying that nothing  could get in. Now the question was, how were they? 

“One for each,” Dirk whispered to them as he drew his sword. 

Rose nodded, and Karkat swallowed the lump in his throat. There was no quiet way to approach them. As soon as they got close enough, the Freshling’s peripheral vision would cue them to the three very living and very delicious morsels willingly walking toward them. 

Dirk took the front, and the moment he did, a woman rounded to him. Her milky eyes swam with interest, and a ghost of a smirk pulled at her torn-up lips. She broke away from the pair at her sides and rushed with a shriek at them. It was all the other two needed to turn to them and join her. 

It was a simple thing really, to cut her head cleanly from her shoulders. Infection-weakened flesh was no stronger than rice paper on water, and bones presented a problem, but even they were nothing if enough force was applied. Dirk’s blade was sharp enough and his muscles strong enough to make quick work of her. She was taken care of before she could get close enough to touch him. 

Rose moved next. Instead of focusing up as Dirk had, she ducked down and slid the blade of her dagger into the joint of one’s knee. It toppled, collapsing against his brother and sending them both crashing to the ground. They struggled like eels in a bucket, one trying to get out from under its kin’s heavy weight, the other desperate to find the balance it would never have again. All it took was Rose’s blade to slip easily under her target’s jaw and slice clean through its jugular. Even the undead could bleed out, and it did within moments. 

Karkat took advantage of the downed Freshling. His method was nowhere near as elegant and quick as Rose’s and Dirk’s had been, but just as effective. The sharpened point of his sickle came down with a sickening crunch onto the last’s temple. Something akin to a wheeze hissed through its teeth; its eyes spun wildly in its sockets as the last dregs of its life oozed away. 

All was quiet finally in the hallway. Karkat tried to pull his sickle from his victim’s head, but the curve of the blade coupled with its horribly neglected, chip-studded edge made for release much too hard. He tugged once, then twice, before finally resolving to putting his foot on the unfortunate’s face and yanking back with all his might. He nearly lost his balance and regained his labored breathing. 

Dirk was no help as he patted a good job onto Karkat’s back and headed to the farthest room. Rose followed with nary a side-glance, and Karkat found himself wondering if he would ever get to the point of detachment these two had. He’d been too sheltered and too full of himself for too long. He supposed it would come in time. 

“How do we get in?” Dirk looked to Karkat for direction. 

The dark-haired boy felt along the door’s frame at the top and sides until he found a loose shard of wood. Tossing it aside carelessly, he pulled out a small, silver key. 

“The bed frame’s against the door too,” Karkat added, unlocking the door, “We’re going to have to force it.” 

He wasn’t lying. All three had to use all the strength they had in them to push open the door. 

“How in the fuck,” Dirk grunted, “Did you even do this?” 

“Got the frame onto its side,” Karkat rasped, “Used my jacket as a rope to pull it down as I shut the door.” 

“Made one hell of a noise, I bet,” Rose added. 

“A little.” 

With one final shove, the bed frame clattered and banged against the wooden floor, and the door swung open and cracked against the wall. Dirk was quick to shut and lock it, just in case, but as he turned to survey the room, no Jane was to be found. 

“Where is she?” 

Karkat didn’t answer and instead went to the sliding closet doors on the other side. His fingers hooked into the handle.

“Wait!” Both Dirk and Rose shouted, startling him. 

He stared for a moment, processing their hesitation, “She hasn’t turned. She wasn’t bitten.” 

Dirk and Rose exchanged looks. Neither believed him, and both made ready for the worst. Karkat didn’t wait for them again and slid open the door. 

Dirk could hear every cell in his blood whoosh by as it raced in the veins in his ears. He wasn’t ready to see Jane as a Freshling. He wasn’t ready to take her down if she flew at him and Rose. He wasn’t ready to go back to the apartment where Jake and Jade were waiting to tell them what had happened. He desperately wanted to believe Karkat when he said she hadn’t turned, but he knew better than to believe that. Too many people had said the exact same thing to the people they had come to care about and it was all lies. It was all lies because the liar loved the freshly turned just as much, if not more, than the ones wanting answers. Zones were turned to shreds by pity and love. Dirk could have neither in this moment. 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to. The door slid open, and no infection-filled, starving, insanity-addled Jane flew out to greet them. In fact, Jane couldn’t have crawled out much less fling herself at any of them. She was swaddled in every tattered blanket the house had to offer and still, she shivered as if she were naked in a blizzard. Her breathing was rapid, a sweat collected on her brow, and her skin was as pale as a tissue. 

Dirk dropped his sword (a stupid thing he would reflect on later) and rushed at her before Rose or Karkat could react to the sight, “Jane!” 

Her eyes opened at the call, but her cerulean blues were glassy and unfocused, casting her gaze this way and that without restraint. It wasn’t until he hovered over her, filling her range of vision, that she had some point to direct her attention. 

“Dirk,” She sighed, her sweet smile trying so hard to pull at her lips. She only managed the smallest of curves, “Karkat found you.” 

“Yeah, sure did,” Dirk licked his lips and hooked his arms under her knees and back, “Come on. We’re gonna get you out of here, all right?” 

He tried to lift her, but almost dropped her back onto the unforgiving floor at the sharp cry she gave at the movement. So instead, he froze completely in mid-motion and didn’t even dare to try to set her back down. 

“Where’s it hurt?” He dared to ask. 

“Everywhere,” She moaned, “Water?” 

Rose answered with a shuffle as she dug into the pack on his back and an extended bottle over his shoulder. He hadn’t any choice but to lower her back down and lift up her head. Jane drank like a woman left for dead in the desert. Her grip was vice-like on his wrist, as if he would snatch the bottle away at any moment, and she very nearly drowned herself twice. 

Coughing, she finished the last drops and breathed a relieved sigh, “Thank you.” 

“She looks worse,” Karkat added from somewhere above them. He hadn’t meant to be heard, but had been all the same. 

Rose and Dirk shot him a look. Rose spoke, “Looks worse?” 

Karkat bit his lip and refused to look at them, “She wasn’t this bad when I left her.” 

“What did you expect?” Rose asked with as much curiosity as she did anger. 

“No,” Jane breathed with a slight shake of her head. Her eyes shut, “Not his fault. A cut on my thigh. Couldn’t clean. Knew,” She trailed off, “Infected. Not cleaned.” 

“Jane?” 

She still breathed, but had fallen back to sleep. Dirk didn’t like it, not one bit. 

As out as she was, Jane couldn’t feel any pain as Dirk slipped his pack from his shoulders and slinged her onto his back. He ripped apart one of her sheets, tied the ribbons around her wrists as he crossed them at his front, and tied more at her ankles and calves  as he coaxed them around his middle. The situation wasn’t perfect; her weight would surely put pressure on his throat and stomach should he need to use his hands, but this is why he insisted on traveling in groups. Karkat and Rose would just have to pick up where he couldn’t. 

“All right. Plan’s changed,” Dirk informed, shifting Jane against his back and cupping his hands under her thighs, “I think we might just have to book it.” 

“That’s a dumb fucking idea.” 

“It’s all we’ve got. Someone’s gotta be in front of me, and someone behind. Rose, you’ll have to lead the way. I need someone quick and strong ahead to deal with surprises. No offense,” Dirk looked to Karkat, who viciously folded his arms over his chest and scowled. 

“Oh,  _ none taken _ , fuckass.” 

“Great. Glad we’ve built the majestic bridge of friendship and are on our way to holding hands as we cross.”

“We’re nowhere near that!” Karkat all but shrieked, “Listen, fuck-face! If you wanna insult me, say it loud and clear! You wouldn’t be the first and you sure as hell won’t be the last, but at the very least, you can be the first to not be so under-fucking-handed about it! I get enough of that!” 

“As if there wasn’t enough noise,” Rose muttered. 

“Nah. Rather not.” 

“You--!!” 

“The fact remains is that Jane is priority numero uno. We can hate-makeout later.” 

“I’d rather french kiss a porcupine’s ass.” 

“The feeling’s mutual,” Dirk awkwardly leaned down to pick up his katana and held it out to Karkat, “Before you go on spouting out more asshole-ish verbal diarrhea, your sickle is too worn and damaged to do anything fast or effective. I want this back. I mean it. And as long as you don’t stab me in the back, we’ll be dandy.”  

The gesture, whether it came with harsh words or not, was too genuine for Karkat to argue again. His face reddened deeper; thankfully, it was mistaken for ill-repressed anger. 

“Now that Mount Vantas has settled, we’ll go out the way we came in and make a run for it. As much as I would have liked, the car alarm’s off the table.” 

“We’ll just bring them straight back to the apartment then? An entire herd, just like that?” Rose shook her head, “Assuming we can even get back without having any of them activate or, even better, have Freshlings join in.” 

“We can outrun them,” Dirk simply stated, readying himself to leave. 

“You’re carrying Jane,” a firm reply, “How fast do you think you can run with her dead weight?” 

He could say nothing. He knew what she was saying was true. He hadn’t seen Karkat run, but it was entirely possible that he and Rose could outrun a Freshling. Dirk, however, would be quickly left behind. Despite his strength and agility, Jane would inevitably slow him down just enough to get caught. He imagined a rotting hand shooting out from a growing throng behind him, catching at Jane’s shirt and hair, and pulling at her until he toppled. 

“Wait here,” Rose’s voice cut through his horrific daydream, “All you need to do is wait for my signal, and you two should be able to walk right out the front door. I’ll catch up with you. Okay?” 

She was gone before Karkat could grab her and Dirk could object. The two boys exchanged looks and rushed down the way they came. The window was flung wide open by the time they reached their entrance point, and the groaning of the Spooks below had all but gone. Karkat leaned against the frame and dared a look outside. Sure enough, most of the herd had moved on, no doubt chasing after the purple blur that was Rose. 

“She didn’t tell us what the signal was.” 

“I’m sure we’ll know.” 

Dirk turned sharply on his heels and headed to the stairs that led to the shop below. He barely got down one before Karkat shrieked at him. 

“What are you doing?! They might be waiting right outside for us!” 

“Unlikely,” Dirk muttered as he continued down. The door was shut, but unlocked. Whatever Freshling had gotten in last was too far gone to lock it, but not so far gone as to not shut it behind it. It made him wonder just how much brain power was still working as the change settled. 

Karkat quickly followed after him, “We should wait for Rose, shouldn’t we?” 

“No, she said she’d catch up.” 

“But your front-” 

“You’re my front and my back now. I’m going to keep moving no matter what, and you have to keep up and keep swinging. Rose will meet up with us eventually, but until then, you’re keeping Jane safe.” 

“Maybe we should trade,” Karkat’s eyes flitted to the ground as his hands quivered just the slightest. 

“If you could carry her before, you would have carried her all the way back home,” Caught, and Karkat knew it, “Don’t worry,” Dirk shifted Jane’s weight on his back to free up on hand which he set with a tight grip on Karkat’s shoulder, “If I know Rose like I think I do, you won’t have to swing that sword once.” 

As if responding to her name, there was a small pop like a cap flying off a bottle, followed by a fierce, deep boom and the squeal of a car’s alarm. Dirk and Karkat both tensed at the sound of the explosion. It was far enough away only to be heard, but it still rattled them. They were expecting the sounds of Freshlings, all screaming and wails and scrabbling over pavement, to whisk past their door, to smell them and start banging on the door, but it wouldn’t come. 

“That’s our cue.” 

Dirk turned the knob and shoved the door away from him. The coast was clear each way he looked. Down the street, he could see the towering gray climbing toward the sky and the dim flash of yellow trapped in the billowing cloud. Seemed like Rose got to execute her plan after all. 

A small group of interested Spooks gathered around the smoking wreckage, and more and more joined them until the makings of a herd were afoot. Dirk would not stick around to see just how giant the throng would become, nor did he want to see the Freshlings arrive. 

“Come on.” 

And they were off. It wasn’t a path Dirk took very often, but he knew the way. (If they were lucky and fast, they wouldn’t have to spend yet another full day outside of the apartment) Down the alley to his right, through the shredded fence, two lefts, a right, slide down a sharp hill into the drainage ditch, back up an eroded siding, a dash across a wide, lineless street, and… 

He had to stop. They both came to a screeching halt. So close were they to the familiar and safe paths they ran almost every day, but it was entirely blocked. As if a Zombie Convention had come to town, a writhing mass of Spooks stood before them, shuffling about aimlessly between buildings in the intersection. They had gone unnoticed for the moment, but it was just a matter of seconds until they all turned. 

Dirk looked around at them all and saw they were blocked in on all sides. They could turn back and run, but he doubted they would be so lucky as to not attract any attention when they fled. 

“Alright, Rose,” He panted, “If you have any other ideas, now is the time.” 

“What,” Karkat couldn’t force any more words from his throat as he took in the sheer amount of infected. 

They all seemed to turn at once, all of one mind and intention, and stared at the fresh meat so clumsily stumbling in. As a unit, they moved; their heavy, rotting legs suddenly seeming to grow the muscle they lost and moving ever faster with each step. If he had any frame of reference, Dirk would say this is what it felt like to have a circle of fire around him, the ring ever closing and his death looming with a smile. 

Shifting Jane’s weight and giving Karkat a gentle-ish shove with his shoulder to move forward, Dirk made a beeline for a high, chain link fence just across the street. He knew there was a slight burrow under the border, enough for two or three people to scramble under. The Spooks didn’t fall over and kiss the ground unless made to. It was the lesser of two evils: being trapped on a basketball court watching the herd try to press down on them instead of being positively shredded by the greedy Spooks.

Karkat scrambled through first, his tiny, squirrelly form easily slipping through like a mouse into its hole. Dirk, however, had more of an issue. With Jane on his back, he was too round to fit through all at once. He had to remove her ties, all but throw and roll her through, before following after. He felt the sticky, decayed fingers of more than one Biter grabbing at his ankles, and for a split second, he thought he felt one wrap its unproportionally strong hand around his leg. It was a moment of immediate, total terror. He would have to be pulled on his stomach back into the group, watch his companions get further and further away, and reach without hope toward them. The last thing he would see would be Jane’s injured, unconscious body in the dirt and Karkat’s booted feet. 

But he was mistaken. It wasn’t his ankles that were grabbed, but his wrists. Karkat had a tighter grip than any Spook and strength that surprised. Dirk was ripped through the dip under the fence and found himself lying face-to-face with Jane. 

“Are you okay?!” Karkat shrieked, “They didn’t bite, did they!?” 

Dirk could only shake his head and listen to his heart pound in his ears. In front of him, he could see shimmering turquoise, freshly and rudely awakened, peering out through slitted eyelids. They winked out for a moment, but came back wider, brighter, and more alert. Jane groaned as she managed to gather enough strength to hold herself up. 

“Dirk?” 

Dirk was up quicker than he should have moved, stumbling with dizziness as he helped Jane sit up completely. 

“Are you alright?” 

“Yes,” She confirmed. 

He helped her to her feet, and almost immediately, she crumpled against him with a whimper of pain. Karkat came to her side and coaxed her arm over his shoulders while Dirk caught her around the waist and held her up. 

“Alright, huh?” Karkat hissed. 

Jane shot him a sideways frown before turning her attention to the herd pressing insistently against the fence, “How are we getting out of here?” 

“I doubt there’s a way in and no way out,” Dirk said, surveying across the court to the opposite, completely uninhabited fence, “We can always dig our way out if there isn’t.” 

“The sun will go down soon! That could take forever!” 

“You’re more than welcome to find a way through the horde.” 

“I’m just saying-!!” 

“Dirk,” Jane cut through the brewing scream-fest, “Do you have anymore water?” 

Dirk bit his bottom lip and shook his head. He’d given all he had to her; Rose had her own, but that hardly helped now. Jane let out a helpless sigh and seemed to sag against him. 

“I’m going to pick you up. Think you can hold onto me?” 

Jane nodded, but Dirk would never get to lift her. The ground shook under their feet; a stray pebble here and there bounced with fear against the tar, and the cracks, once tiny and unnoticed, split into gaping mouths to laugh at their coming demise. As if ordered, all three looked to the small shack to their left. From beside it, a monster loomed. 

“Soldier,” Dirk could hardly breathe out.

Its clothes did indeed depict a person of military service, but that’s where the similarities stopped. No military would want the rotting brute that stared them down. It was a beast of old, an ogre of tale, and mammoth of nightmares. It was a terror worse than even the Torments, if only because it could stand the light of the sun. Its muscles, what had survived and so much had, had ripped everything that wouldn’t stretch to its enormous (and in some places beach ball sized) girth to ribbons; it stood as tall as two men and bore all the scars of a creature grown too much too fast; its face, the feature that all eyes, even the most distracted, eventually landed on, was the only thing left untouched. It was relaxed into a facade of peaceful but harsh judgement, something akin to a parent’s knowing look of a child’s wrongness. 

Absently, unwillingly, maybe even a bit sorrowfully and stupidly, Dirk wondered who’s face this monster had stolen. 

“What the blood-glutted fuck,” Karkat barely managed. 

Dirk wanted to order him to back away slowly, to move with a sloth’s grace to the edge of the fence and work his way around, but he knew the Soldier’s lax scrutiny was hardly an indicator of being seen and not being understood. They would do better to run. If only he could command his legs to work in the face of such a monster. 

The Soldier’s mouth parted, as if to speak, but grew wider and wider until it gaped open large enough to make a Gulper Eel jealous. Then, it roared, making the tatters of its last meal quiver against its brown teeth, before it threw down its shoulder and charged at them. 

Dirk had only a split second to think as he shoved Jane away from him and into Karkat, making them both crash against the concrete and roll away. The Soldier soared right past and into the fence. For a terrifying moment, they all thought it would topple and allow the stream of undead to come rushing after them, but the Soldier slowed just enough to bounce against the springy metal and bend it out of place. The horde squirmed with agitation on the other side, moving like a rogue current; the makings of activation were upon them, and the swarm wouldn’t be denied its meal. 

They had to leave and soon. 

Dirk couldn’t trust Karkat to take down the behemoth while he shouldered Jane’s weight and found a safe way out. It would be the quickest way, but also the deadliest. It only left him the choice of the exact opposite, minus his sword. It could do nothing against such tough flesh anyway, and Dirk would be loathe to get close enough to be grabbed. Straightening, Dirk’s eyes narrowed on the beast and watched it turn to Jane and Karkat, the easiest and most obvious targets. 

“Karkat!” Dirk yelled over another roar, “Take Jane to the other side! Find a way out! I’ll distract him!” 

“Have you lost your fucking mind?!” 

“Get the fuck outta here!!” 

Dirk placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled as loudly as he could. Groping almost blindly, he grabbed the first rock that his fingers curled around and threw it, hitting the Soldier squarely in the temple. The Soldier turned, and Dirk expected rage to be morphing it pristine features, but was met once again with a gaping mouth and a roar. It flew headlong toward him; a charging rhino would have been a more welcome sight.

Again, Dirk managed to dodge, moving the rampaging Soldier away from the crowded fence and where Karkat and Jane struggled. He just had to take measured steps to make sure the barrier didn’t come down and his friends weren’t noticed. No pressure. 

So began his calculated dance. The more he moved, the more he irritated; the more he irritated, the closer the Soldier got. Once or twice, Dirk was nearly grabbed, and his vision turned a little fuzzy around the edges at the mere thought of the what-if scenario. Dirk was hardly one to be afraid of death, but being eaten alive, leaving Karkat and Jane to fend for themselves, was much different than being decapitated or stabbed, to name a couple alternatives.

He stepped to his left, tumbled, and landed on his hands and knees. The Soldier ran past him again and very nearly collided with the storage building, but it stopped cleanly and suddenly. For a few breaths, the Soldier stood facing the squat building and huffed with irritation. Its broad, lumpy shoulders heaved and quaked, and its fingers twitched with decision. Dirk immediately felt the need to run before the Soldier could turn again. 

“Dirk!!” Jane’s call was only an echo, “There’s a way out!” 

He nodded, stood, and backed up a few paces, either unwilling or unable to turn his back on the enraged creature in front of him. 

“Hurry the hell up!” Even Karkat sounded quiet. 

Dirk knew he should run; he should turn, rush back to his companions, scoop Jane up, and try to make his way back to the apartment. Hopefully, he would meet Rose on the way; in fact, he was certain she was waiting just past the fence for them to catch up. He just needed to  _ catch up _ . 

The Soldier turned. Its mouth was no longer open and waiting, eager and terrifying, but its heavy footfalls were enough to frighten with their earth-quaking might and sound so much like the building of war drums. It dipped low, as if to charge again, but instead, pressed its trash can lid-sized hands flat against the ground and dug its thick fingers into the cracks in the pavement. 

Dirk knew what was coming before the Soldier even ripped the pavement out of the ground in a large chunk and tried to, finally, follow through with his instincts. He dodged too late. The boulder connected with his side just barely; it wasn’t enough to shatter bones, but it sent him sprawling, tore up his back as he skidded across the court, and knocked the wind from him as he connected. He was spread-eagle and staring at the sky, his vision swimming and blurry as if looking through oiled lenses. The thrum of pain and disorientation made his body feel as if it was sloshing back and forth on a choppy sea. 

But sobriety came quickly when he felt himself being lifted. Those large hands grabbed him around the middle, pinning his arms to his sides, and held him face-to-face with their owner. The Soldier was at peace once again, but held onto the air of judgement it had from the beginning. Dirk couldn’t handle it being so close. The smell of it gagged him even though he couldn’t take a deep breath with his body constricted so tightly, and the feel of its sticky, decaying fingers seemed to ooze over his skin like a trail of snail’s mucus. 

He was lifted further up, the Soldier’s mouth opened again, widening into a void, and Dirk was held over its head. He knew where he would end up if he couldn’t get away. 

“Dirk!!” Jane was screaming, enticing the horde that was much too close and reminding the Soldier it had other meals after this one. A full three-course dinner. 

Dirk tried to pull his legs up toward his body when struggling failed. Just those few inches between him and a horrible death gave him more time to think, to try to escape. But there would be no escape without his sword. If he had it in his hand, he could have sliced the Soldier’s hands clean off from its wrists and be trampled with dignity. 

The tips of his shoes touched the waiting brown teeth, and his tangerine eyes screwed shut. It would only be a matter of seconds now. 

A bang, seemingly distant, cut through all other sound. Dirk fell through stagnant air and crashed haplessly against the unyielding ground, but he wouldn’t be thrown into murkiness and disorientation again. He almost immediately looked up at his opponent, and for the first time, a flash of genuine confusion morphed its judgemental face. It turned its gaze upward toward the fence, a roar bubbled on its lips, another bang deafened all other noise, and the Soldier’s pristine features were ruptured and flung away from its head. 

Dirk watched as its top-heavy body swayed on its ill-equipped feet for far too many seconds and revelled as it toppled with a slick, squelch-like plop. All fear and anger left him; all that was left was relief for the moment. 

“Roxy!!” Jane’s voice was suddenly very loud and clear, “Rose!!” 

All eyes were drawn up to two figures standing perched on the court’s fence. Rose and Roxy stood as too striking sentinels lording it over their protectees, covered in all amounts of gunk and gore one could imagine. They weren’t beautiful in that moment, but they were the most welcome of sights.  

“Hey, guys!!” Roxy waved, resting her rifle on her shoulder, “Saved ya!! You’re welcome!” 

There was more to be said, but the screams echoing around the buildings warned all to the approaching Freshlings. They would soon be there in droves, and what with the Spooks below starting to foam at the mouth and become more vicious in their assault on the fence, there was little time to play catch-up with friends. 

“Gotta go,” Roxy said, looking over her shoulder. 

Both Rose and Roxy jumped from the high fence and tumbled neatly across the pavement, avoiding injury. They ran forward, grabbed Dirk by his hands, and hauled him up to his feet. All three rushed to meet Karkat and Jane, who already were beginning to climb through the burrow. Rose, the last to scramble through, did so not a moment too soon. On the other side of the court, the Freshlings had finally caught up with the noise and were beginning to climb the tall fence in search of food. 

 

“Jane?” Dirk asked. 

Jane was once again on Dirk’s back. Despite trying (and failing) to walk on her own, she couldn’t. Whatever injury she had sustained was too much for her body to simply put aside long enough to not be any sort of burden. It was for the best that she relied on others to be her legs. They they had walked for hours, and still, they were so far away. The only relief they had was how much Dirk recognized. It meant they were closer, but not by enough. They would have to hunker down soon and try to duck under the Torments’ radar. Already, the sun was too low and set most of the group on edge. 

“Jane?” Dirk tried again. 

“She’s asleep,” Rose informed. 

“Dead out!” Roxy added, “Oh, whoops. Nevermind.” 

Dirk shook his head. 

“I suspect everyone is a little tired,” Rose sent a knowing look in Karkat’s direction. He hadn’t spoken not a word since they escaped the basketball court, “Roxy, you said you knew of a place…?” 

“Yeah!” She chirped, hopping forward to take the lead, “It isn’t far now. There’s a bit of a climb though.” 

A climb, Dirk could handle, but as Roxy lead them further into the city, past the more dangerous pops of herds-in-the-making, and stopped them in a narrow alley with a series of ladders leading up, Dirk wished she had chosen her words more carefully. Climb did not necessarily equate to taking on a rusted, haphazard, stitched together tangle of steps with one’s hands occupied; the ascent from Hell to Heaven might have been more appropriate a choice, but giving her safe house the title of Heaven was just as bad as her calling the task ahead a mere climb. 

Still, they all powered through. Rose led, and Roxy pulled up each ladder as they moved further up. Whatever survivors had been here constructed all the way to the roof, but thankfully, they only went to the third floor of the building. It was achingly similar a trek into the house to find Jane, but with much less Freshlings and Spooks lying in wait. They even took the room at the farthest end of the hall and forced another bed frame against their only entrance and exit. 

The moment they sighed in relief, Karkat gave up. He had only Dirk’s pack and no other burden other than Dirk’s sword still in his hand, but he acted and felt as though the entire world weighed on him and slipped off his shoulders. He all but fell face down onto the extremely giving pile of everything soft in the room and was out before they could decide watch shifts. The emotional and physical whiplash was too much for him; no one could say a nasty word about it, however. 

As delicately as he could, Dirk peeled his belongings off of Karkat’s limp body, set Jane down, and lowered her gently to use the pack as a pillow. Rose and Roxy changed their clothing discreetly in the corner, ridding themselves of the bloody camouflage they had used to sneak through the horde. 

“Hey, Dirk-” Roxy started, tossing a look over her shoulder. 

Dirk hardly paid her any attention. He was too busy undoing the zipper on Jane’s pants and coaxing her body out of them. Roxy quickly threw a cleanish shirt on and rushed over to see just what was causing Jane’s pain. Dirk struggled just the slightest bit; the fabric of Jane’s pants caught on her skin and pulled away with scabs and skin, but with slow firmness, he managed to get the garment around her calves. A deep, pencil-width cut ran a jagged length from her knee to her hip on her right thigh. It looked cavernous and angry, swollen and red with festering infection, and the faintest whiff of a foul odor sunk into all noses present.  

“Oh, Janey.”

“Do we have any alcohol? Gauze?” 

Rose didn’t answer right away; it was all the reply Dirk needed to sigh and run his hands up his face, under his shades to scrub at his eyes, and back down to pull at the skin of his cheeks.

“If it’s any consolation, we’re only one more night away from the apartment,” Rose finally said, “She’ll survive that long, I’m positive.” 

“It’s been twenty-two days since we last saw Jane,” Dirk very carefully stated, “Twenty-nine for Dave and John, and before now, seventeen for Roxy. Karkat said it took him three days just to get to our building. He didn’t say how long he and Jane carried on before they had to stop or how long he stayed in that room with her before he worked up the nerve to set out on his own.” 

“Dirk-” Roxy tried. 

“I’m not blaming him,” Dirk shook his head, “He was terrified. It’s a miracle he even made it on his own at all. All I’m saying is we don’t know how long she’s been dealing with this. One more night might be-” 

“Don’t say it. Don’t,” Roxy looked from Dirk to Rose then back. She wound her arms around his left and rested her head on his shoulder, “Janey’s tough. We’ll get her back home, fix her up, then go lookin’ for John and Dave, okay? Don’t give up, Di-Stri. Not on Janey.” 

He gave her a sideways look, swallowed down his emotions, and let his head fall to the side to lean on hers. She was right; of course, she was right. Roxy had always been the voice of reason, a bubbly giggle, and that anchoring presence in their group. 

“Thank you,” Dirk murmured for Roxy’s ears alone. 

She smiled, patted his hand, and sat up straight, “I think I’ll take first watch.” 

“No,” Rose interjected, “I can. Get some rest.” 

“Ya sure?” Roxy stood, abandoning Dirk to talk with her sister. 

Dirk stared down at Jane for an eternity before putting her clothing right. He wasn’t sure what prompted him to, but he laid down beside her, pulled her body close, and somehow managed to snag an edge of his pack to serve as his pillow. Despite the stuffiness of the room, despite the heat rolling off Jane’s body in waves, despite the uncomfortable lumpiness of his pack, Dirk’s eyes shut behind his shades, and, for the first time in too many days, he slept. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said I wouldn't, but here we are. I tried desperately to escape giving this more chapters, but the more I tried to get away, the tighter its grip became. It started out with me just wanting to have Dirk and Rose save Jane, maybe play around with Karkat's character a tiny bit as well, but now I've opened Pandora's box and must struggle to get close enough to close it back up. (Also, try as I might, I will never escape Dirk-x-Jane. I won't apologize for that, however.) 
> 
> On another note, I'm not sure how I feel jumping into the action straight away like I have. I suppose something like a zombie fic doesn't exactly need a slow-build unless the beginning is what one is going for versus telling how things are after everything's hit the proverbial fan. We'll see how it goes.
> 
> That being said, stay tuned for the next chapter: A Hunt for Antibiotics! Into the Hive at the Hospital!


End file.
